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My Current Skincare Products *Quick Update*

Sunday, June 09, 2013

Hello everyone and Happy Sunday!

I love the weekends, - a great time to sit back and catch up on my reading, blog-reading and drink all the coffee I want. Weekends are also great for mini spring-cleaning around the room and talking about cleaning, I try to wipe my skincare/makeup products whenever I can. As I took everything out and arranged them neatly, I thought that it was fun to take some pictures and compare to the Skincare Post that I did previously in Feb 2013 (Click Here)

Updated Skincare Products June 2013

Facial Wash

Im still using the Garnier Pure Active Fruit Energy Daily Energizing Gel Wash (that Garnier had kindly sent me when it was first launched) on a daily basis and I love the zesty grapefruit smell. Its a fun facial wash for the morning and it doesn't dry out my skin.

Toner

Im using two Japanese products, hence the 'lotion' tags on the bottles. The Japanese call their toners 'Lotions' but they are effectively pretty much similar. I like my Kose one from a previous campaign I did for Kose Singapore, and the Hada Labo one was a cheap replica from Watsons which I bought to replace the depleting Kose one. I love both of them for their Whitening properties and I've actually written a detailed review on Hada Labo for the Watson's Beauty Playground Blog (which I will let you know once its up!)

Moisturizer

I try out a lot of skin care range as a beauty blogger but these three items are the ones that I will always fall back on to get clear skin. They dun break me out in any way and I find that they are simple, but effective products that benefits my skin. Once again, Im still using the Kose White Serum* (*but its actually a Lotion) from the previous Kose campaign. I like this moisturizer as it does not break me out, yet deliver the promised whitening results without the dryness. In addition, the light floral scent soothes me when I apply it on my skin. I alternate Kose with my favorite brand - Cle De Peau Refreshing Nourishing Emulsion for Day & Night. I've switched from La Mer to CDP when I stopped flying because the weather in Singapore made La Mer too 'rich' for my skin. CDP, in contrast - is a light, refreshing lotion that calms my skin yet does not make my combination skin turn oily during the day. My only gripe is the crazy pricing of Cle De Peau, and they are really too expensive for my liking.

Treatments and Add-ons

These are items that I use sparingly, or only when needed.

My Clarins Lotus Face Treatment Oil is a cult favorite of Clarins fans worldwide and I have been using this on-off throughout my years as a stewardess. I have combination skin and I have a dry U-zone, but my T-zone can get pretty oily throughout the day and blackheads are the bane of my life. Will it surprise you to tell you that my T-zone will only be under control when I use oil? This Clarins Lotus (For combination skin) Face Treatment Oil effectively re-hydrates my skin, control my sebum production and loosen existing blackheads. It does not break me out, but its most effective when I use it sparingly eg. alternate nights before bed. I bought this in Hongkong and I believe its much cheaper there without tax.

For the occasional pimples that I have, I've found an extremely gentle Atorrege AD+ Acne Spots gel from my previous Watson giveaway. Atorrege is a Japanese brand available at Watsons and I like it because it is one of the few brands that will not dry out the skin while treating the pimple. I experience no skin-peeling, dryness or stinging from this gel so while it might be slightly expensive - I like using it. It is quite gentle, so while its safe for sensitive skins like mine, I frankly dun think that it is very effective for extreme acne cases.

Once the pimple is gone, it usually leaves a red scar on my skin so I use the Kiehl's Clearly Corrective Spot Solution to target scars and dark spots. I got this from my previous VanityTrove box, and I like it very much. It is gentle and a little goes a long, long way.

Eye Care

Im using two items for my dark eye circles and first up - the SkinPeptoxyl Intelligent Dark Circles Eraser that I chanced upon while browsing the Sasa store one day. Skin Peptoxyl is a US cosmeceutical brand that is pretty under the radar due to its lack of advertising but I like how this gel does not irritate my eyes. I have rather sensitive skin especially around my eye area so Im very careful with the products I use. I get a slight allergic reaction with many eye products in the market and sadly, La Mer eyecream was one of them. I used to use it previously with no problems but in recent years, I find that my skin has became so sensitive that I get swelling or extremely puffy eyes when I use the wrong products! Thus, I had to give up many brands of eye creams even when they were given to me for review. These two products are one of the few brands that doesnt cause an adverse reaction, hence I will be using them continuously til depleted. But I am still on the search for the perfect eye cream because although this DHC Medicated Q eye cream is quite gentle and moisturizing, I find that it does not reduce my fine lines as much as I would like it to. On the hindsight, it does not cause milia seeds so its good for people who are prone to milia seeds. (What a pain to get rid of, too!)

Sunscreen

To be very frank, I am sometimes very hesitant to use sunscreen for the fear of getting clogged pores but I like this Infinity Kose Deep Protection UV due to its high SPF, yet I find it very light and non-greasy. Its excellent under makeup and will not cause my foundation to 'slip'. One tip though, if you apply sunscreen before makeup, do let it 'rest' for around 3-5 mins BEFORE you proceed to apply the rest of your makeup. If not, your makeup might not adhere to your skin as the sunscreen lotion has not been absorbed fully, thus creating a 'barrier'. I remember learning this tip from a popular makeup artist on TV and found that his tip really works! One more thing , even if you only use sunscreen, you must remove it with a makeup remover as your normal facial cleanser is not sufficient and this mis-step might cause clogged pores and break outs.

Hope you enjoyed this little Sunday post!

If you feel inspired to do a similar skincare post, or already have one - I welcome you to share it with me .. please! I would love to see what you use on a daily basis, too! Pleasetag or comment with your blog/post link so everyone (and me!) could check them out too! It will be FUN and a cool break away from the boring (oops sorry!) sponsored reviews that everyone, including me ~ le sigh ~ seems to be posting on blogs!